Some Things
by Helen C
Summary: Some things you might not have known about the Core Four. A series of four ficlets.
1. Part 1

**Title **: Some Things You Might Not Have Known About The Core Four

**Author** : Helen C.

**Rating** : PG-13

**Summary** : Title says it all.

**Disclaimer** : The characters and the universe were created and are owned by Josh Schwartz. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Huge thanks to Joey51 for beta'ing this!

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**Some Things You Might Not Have Known About The Core Four**

Helen C.

_#1_

As Ryan waited by the car, while Marissa said goodbye to Theresa, he found himself thinking about how surprisingly familiar Chino still seemed to him.

Despite the fact that Theresa was getting engaged and hadn't invited him, despite being pushed around and threatened, despite Marissa's crisis, he had almost enjoyed his day here.

Plus, Marissa slapping Luke was a memory he would cherish for a long while.

Too bad the price to pay for that was having to deal with his friends' barely veiled accusations of selling out and enjoying himself while they had to fight to get enough money to get by.

In Newport, he was the kid from the wrong side of the tracks; here, he was the guy who had been lucky enough to escape—as if his old life didn't cling to him anywhere he went.

Every time one of his old friends told him, in a resentful tone, that he was the lucky one, it all came back to him—the disappointment, the aching loneliness, the fear and the anger he had felt on that fateful August evening.

"I did call you, remember?" he wanted to yell at them. "But you were busy partying, getting high, getting laid, and you couldn't be bothered to find a place for me to crash for the night."

He could almost see what their faces would look like—stunned and maybe apologetic.

Or maybe still wary.

Damn it, but they hadn't been the ones who were suddenly alone and homeless. They hadn't been the ones trying to find somewhere to spend the night—a couch, or even a spot on the ground.

They hadn't been the ones reduced to calling a fucking stranger for help.

And sure, Ryan knew they all had their troubles to deal with.

It didn't stop him from being mad.

It didn't stop him from thinking that Trey had been right, after all, when he had told Ryan that helping people wouldn't pay back, that one day he'd need them and they wouldn't come through.

And yes, things had turned out well for Ryan.

But for all Ryan had known back then, Sandy could have been a child molester, or a bully like AJ, and Ryan wouldn't have been in a position to deny him anything.

So, yeah, he had been lucky.

Happy ending and all.

And it had only cost him his family and the life he had always known.

And fuck, but didn't any of his friends see that? Didn't any of them know that sometimes he was so fucking homesick that it was all he could do to hold back his tears?

Didn't any of them that he was worried about Dawn, about Trey, and now about Theresa?

Didn't any of them know that Newport would never be his home the same way Chino had been?

Didn't they know that he was torn between two different worlds, between past obligations and a newfound, tentative sense of belonging?

Didn't they know that he was still petrified that the Cohens were going to change their minds and kick him out, just like Dawn had done. And what would he do then?

But words didn't change anything, and Ryan didn't think for a second that saying all these things would make him feel any better.

So when Theresa pulled him aside while Marissa climbed into the car, and asked him how he was doing, he smiled and said that everything was fine.

Yes, the Cohens treated him well.

And yes, he still missed her.

She hugged him.

Said she missed him too.

Went back to her party, leaving him alone with Marissa.

Ready to go back to his new life.

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More soon... 


	2. Part 2

**Title** : Some Things You Might Not Have Known About The Core Four

**Author** : Helen C.

**Rating** : PG-13

**Summary **: Title says it all.

**Disclaimer** : The characters and the universe were created and are owned by Josh Schwartz. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Huge thanks to Joey51 for beta'ing this!

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_#2_

Once Summer was done reading Seth's rambling, apologetic letter, she spent exactly six minutes seething in her room, the word "Coward," echoing in her head.

It didn't make her feel any calmer.

There was only one thing that would help her unwind and that was punching Cohen's lights out.

Which wasn't going to happen, since the damn little coward was on his damn boat somewhere between Newport and Tahiti.

But the next best thing, she might be able to get.

So, she ran downstairs, got into her car and drove to Chino.

She was still mad when she reached the house where Atwood and Theresa now pretended that they were one happy family.

She banged on the door, yelling for Atwood to come out, and when he did, she pretended not to notice that he already looked five years older than he had two days ago.

Served him right.

She didn't even talk to him.

She just slapped him, hard, and spun on her heels.

Got back in her car.

He didn't even try to run after her when she drove off.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She spent the next few days trying not to remember how tired Atwood had looked and how pitiful the house had been.

She tried not to think about how scared he must be, trying to be an adult when she knew that he wasn't much more ready for the world than she was.

More gifted to survive, yes, without a doubt.

But raising a kid wasn't about survival.

It was about…

She wasn't sure what it was about, and chances were that Ryan didn't know either.

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After ten days of her conscience nagging at her, she gave up.

Went shopping for groceries—comfort food.

Drove to Chino.

Knocked on the door.

When Ryan opened, she handed him a bag full of pop corn, soda and chocolate.

"Sorry," she offered.

He shrugged in his typical Ryan way. "It's okay."

He didn't make a move to take the bag. "Want some?" she tried again.

He looked tired and sad, but he allowed her to enter anyway.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She left an hour later.

Ryan had smiled twice while she was there, and he looked slightly less stressed out than when she'd arrived.

She promised herself that the next time she came, she'd make him smile three times.

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More soon... 


	3. Part 3

**Title** : Some Things You Might Not Have Known About The Core Four

**Author** : Helen C.

**Rating** : PG-13

**Summary **: Title says it all.

**Disclaimer** : The characters and the universe were created and are owned by Josh Schwartz. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Huge thanks to Joey51 for beta'ing this!

**A/N.** Once upon a time, muchtvs wrote a Seth-kisses-a-far-from-receptive-Ryan one-shot. I wasn't trying to steal the idea from her, but this kind of insisted on being written. So, many thanks to much for allowing me to post this variation on the same theme.

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_#3_

Seth kissed Ryan once.

He was drunk. 

And, and… and Summer had spent the evening teasing him at the party, and then she had gotten a call from Marissa and suddenly she was gone, leaving Seth alone with Ryan, and…

Well.

Seth kissed Ryan.

Ryan was talking, and Seth.

Kissed.

Him.

Full on the lips.

But thankfully with no tongue involved.

He didn't think Ryan would have forgiven _that_.

So anyway, right after the, well, kiss, Ryan froze.

Seth froze too.

They stood frozen, both stuck in this perfect, "Oh shit," moment.

Ryan took a step back, his face remarkably blank, even for him.

He said, "I hope this isn't your way of shutting me up."

He didn't sound pissed, but he didn't sound amused either.

And Seth doubled over and threw up, missing Ryan's feet, but not his own.

Okay.

He probably deserved that.

"Nice," Ryan said.

And he dragged Seth back to the car, made him sit in the back with all the windows open, and drove them home without saying a word.

Once home, he half-dragged, half-carried an apologetic Seth to his room.

"Let's just… forget about that," Ryan said before leaving.

Forgetting about it sounded good to Seth.

It appealed to his highly developed sense of… whatever.

Yeah, denial and repression were definitely in order here.

So, Seth used his well-honed skills of denial and repression, and hoped that one day, he'd be able to look Ryan in the eyes again.

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Last part soon... 


	4. Part 4

**Title** : Some Things You Might Not Have Known About The Core Four

**Author** : Helen C.

**Rating** : PG-13

**Summary **: Title says it all.

**Disclaimer** : The characters and the universe were created and are owned by Josh Schwartz. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Huge thanks to Joey51 for beta'ing this!

* * *

_#4_

"Alex was kinky," Marissa once told Ryan.

They were lying in bed, side by side, not really touching but not really _not_ touching either.

He raised his head to get a better look at her.

"Excuse me?"

She smiled. "We never went… well, all the way," she explained. "But we did some stuff. And, hm, she was kinky."

She could tell she was blushing, but Ryan definitely looked interested.

For all his white-knight tendencies and his never-ending politeness, he was still a healthy seventeen-year-old guy, and she liked that about him.

And what was it with boys and their two-girls-together fantasies?

Of course, Summer had told her once to try to picture Ryan and Seth, or Ryan and Luke, or even Ryan and Zack together, and Marissa had enjoyed the mental picture very much.

"Okay," he said, his voice slightly strangled.

She fought back the urge to laugh as he visibly fought to pull himself back together.

"What kind of stuff?" he asked after a while, and this time, he sounded a lot more like the cocky boy she had met so long ago.

She tried to sound nonchalant, well aware that she was failing miserably.

Was it even possible to sound nonchalant while saying, "Well, once, she tied my hands behind my back and teased me with a feather"?

He gulped audibly, and she leaned on an elbow to better look at him. "Have you ever been so close to coming that you were ready to beg?"

He got a far-away look in his eyes at that. There must be a story behind that look, and she made a mental note to ask him about it.

Later.

She had other plans for tonight, and if she wasn't mistaken, Ryan would be more than willing to listen to her suggestions.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Alex was kinky," Marissa once told Ryan.

It was probably—certainly—blasphemy for him to think about this in a church.

It was also the only way he was going to survive this day with his sanity intact.

Dwelling on the reason why they were all there would only lead to a meltdown of epic proportions.

So, he clung to his memories of a happier time, committing them to memory.

He would need to remember all these good times if he was to make it through this day.

And all the days that would follow.

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end 


End file.
